Looking at designer Raf Simons' tactical fabric collection
Acclaimed Belgian fashion designer Raf Simons is arguably best known as creative director of some of couture’s most enviable brands: currently Prada and previously Jil Sander, Dior, Calvin Klein, and of course, his eponymous menswear label. But parallel to the fashion world, Simons is bringing his signature eye of refined elegance, sophistication, and playfulness to the home with his collaboration with Danish fabric Maison, Kvadrat.
Here, alongside dressing some of the world’s most influential people (Rihanna, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Jessica Alba, and Amal Clooney, among many others), luxurious textiles from the Kvadrat/Raf Simons collection are enriching the globe’s most discerning homes and iconic pieces of furniture, including Togo for Ligne Roset.
While it might be a lesser-known string to Simons’ bow, it’s arguably the most fitting. This could be seen as coming full circle, with Simons’ roots in industrial design in the 1980s preceding his influential foray into the fashion industry with the launch of Raf Simons menswear in the 1990s, a line that defined the style of the decade with its astute reference to classic tailoring and youth culture. ‘I’m really interested in the actual way people live,’ Simons says about designing fabrics for the home.
Always one to push creative boundaries and redefine the conventional with design that induces deep emotion, Simons’ multidisciplinary way of thinking means his pieces not only have to look good—they must evoke a sense of inspiration, something more than what meets the eye.
‘Increasingly, my interest in this collaboration is not to put a finished textile out there, beautifully upholstered on a piece of designer furniture as some kind of fait accompli. I’m more interested in triggering possibilities: to inspire what could be done,’ he says. ‘I don’t want to give the impression that we are designing these fabrics only to upholster design pieces. These fabrics are obviously used and intended to upholster furniture, but that should not necessarily be
their only purpose.’
It’s no surprise, then, that ‘Atom’ by Simons, a nature-derived design released as limited-edition fabric in celebration of Togo’s recent 50th anniversary, can be
interpreted as more than just an appealing seating option,
but rather a piece of art.
Inspired by fragments of pointillist landscapes in expressionist paintings, the vibrant and experimental boucle fabric features no visible repeat. Speckles of colour in a trio of variations—duck egg blue and burgundy on black or bright yellow and grey on forest green—seem randomly scattered across its surface, woven from bold, contrasting yarns. ‘The idea being that, in the natural world, there is no repeating pattern,’ Simons says of Atom. ‘You could think of it like dust, plants, flower fields, or a pointillist painting; a very small colour melange.’ Simons, an avid collector and admirer of contemporary art and modern design, has drawn on his knowledge of fashion, music and architecture to develop his textiles collection. ‘Composing the colour melanges for Kvadrat, I’ve often looked at nature: at flower fields; paintings inspired by nature; at underwater corals,’ he says.
Since its launch in 2014, the Kvadrat/Raf Simons collection has continuously pushed the boundaries of upholstery fabrics, combining Simons’ distinctive aesthetic vision with Kvadrat’s unmatched technical expertise. Simons says he is fascinated by the microarchitecture of textiles and yarns, incorporating heavy structures made from natural fibres like wool, cotton and linen into his clothing designs. He has also explored fabric in diverse and interesting ways over the years, such as using material to create dividers or curtains, in presentations, and as upholstery during his time at Calvin Klein. Previously, he collaborated with Kvadrat on his collections for Jil Sander.
‘I am interested in all the qualities that have an origin in fashion, like boucle, tweed, and corduroy. Because of the density that is needed for furniture in order to make it last in the long run, it becomes even more interesting, I think,’ Simons finishes.
Togo in Atom, as well as other designs in the Kvadrat/ Raf Simons collection, are available from Ligne Roset Auckland.
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